2.11 Modern imperialism and economic globalization
Economic globalization refers to increased instances of integration and interdependence among various national economies of the world. While the phenomenon has grown over the years as a result of deliberate government actions such as trade deals, the idea has its origins in the era of colonization by the world powers from the beginning of the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. The effects of imperialism on the global economy continue to be felt until today.
It is therefore important to have some background on imperialism. Imperialism was initially a project of a few European powers (mainly Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, and Germany). The sixteenth century saw the onset of the European seaborne empires. Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, which signaled Europe’s intention to dominate the world (Pagden, 134). Christopher Columbus became the head of numerous British expeditions. The Portuguese were the frontrunners, with their encroachment into Africa, Asia and the Americas being disguised as expeditions. Vasco Da Gama, a Portuguese, explored Africa in 1498. He forced rulers along the shores of the Indian Ocean to allow Portuguese traders conduct their business. His expeditions also brought along with them the message of Christianity. In the long run, Vasco Da Gama and his entourage ended up establishing imperial authority. As a result of the considerable profits made in trading with the newly discovered lands, the Portuguese were soon joined by the other European powers
It was followed by the creation of the early modern world economy (1600-1800) in which there was a push towards production and processing as opposed to mere trade in commodities. That was aided by the arrival of precious metals from the New World, which deepened the capital for European traders (Pagden, 96). For that reason, they could increase the scope of mechanization in their production processes. It formed the basis of shipping raw materials to Europe, processing them then sending the finished goods back to Africa, Asia, and the Americas at huge margins, which formed the basis of economic globalization.
With the growth in capital and wealth as well as populations back in their countries, the newly discovered territories became vents for Europe’s overpopulation as well as religious expansion. As a result, it was crucial that they move beyond mere emphasis on trade and establish colonies that they could have control over. Events of the eighteenth century had the effect of strengthening imperialism. The 1763 Treaty of Paris served to strengthen the British Empire as it gained a sizeable chunk of territories hitherto controlled by Spain (Elliote, 111). However, the Declaration of Independence in 1776 by America weakened the British Empire, but it had led to the rise of the United States, which would in the later years become another imperial power.
While Spain did not adequately utilize its territories in South America to benefit from the trade, Britain exploited the African slave trade and monopolized it (Elliott, 14). The success that the British experienced inspired the Belgians, Italians, and Germans to raise their share of colonies around the world. It resulted in the phase often referred to as high imperialism that covers the period between 1870 and the First World War. All great nations including the U.S and Japan participated in the acquisition of territories outside their borders. The scramble for Africa also took place during the period of high imperialism (Bartky, 43).
Countries such as the U.S, despite having been opposed to imperialism, ended up scrambling for foreign territories. It was as a result of interventionist policies initiated by the likes of Theodore Roosevelt. It illustrates the immense gains economically that could be made from occupying foreign territories. The rise of high imperialism necessitated the use of violence to whip the colonial natives to order with the intention of gaining an advantage over the other European powers and America. It became known as “gun boat” diplomacy and was effective in gaining control of Africa, Turkey and China (Pagden, 156). An example is the Opium War that took place between Britain and China between 1840 and 1842.
While it resulted in the great powers gaining more colonial territories and control over trade, it had sowed the seeds of discontent and bred the foundations of resistance among the colonized nations. It ultimately led to the decolonization of many nations especially at the turn of the twentieth century. A major blow to the British Empire was the loss of India in 1947. It is the ill treatment and the ensuing resistance that eventually led to the fall of the imperial projects as espoused by European powers at least on paper for their control continued to be felt.
However, despite decolonization in many of the countries, the corporations had been formed by the European powers to carry out colonial expeditions and metamorphosed into multinational corporations. They included the British East India Company, the Hudson Bay Company and the Swedish Africa Company. The control of the multinationals continues to be felt across the globe. Furthermore, the practice of shipping raw materials from the colonized nations into Europe, processing them then shipping them back to the colonies created a culture of dependency. The perception that the colonies were only sources of raw materials created an unequal balance in the level of industrial development. As such, the benefits of the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century did not reach the colonies, more so Africa and Asia. For that reason, they continued to rely heavily on finished goods from Europe and America, further entrenching economic globalization (Elliote, 156).
Such control over the former colonies and protectorates, especially by the multinationals, is often referred to as informal imperialism for the great powers continue exerting their influence over the South through the multinationals. They have entrenched economic globalization by creating trade linkages across a large number of countries.
Identification Questions
He was the Mughal emperor from 1556 until his death in 1605. The Mughal dynasty was situated in modern India. During his rule, he expanded the empire to cover all of the sub-continental India. He expanded its territory to Afghanistan by conquering Kabul in 1581 as well as in the Uzbek region through diplomatic means by entering into a treaty with Abdullah Khan (Eraly, 112).
One of his major successes is that he created a multicultural empire by embracing non-Muslims, which was not the case during the previous reigns (Hastings, 78). He also oversaw a centralized system of government that united different people. It is during his administration that the Portuguese and the British made forays into the region through trade, which formed the foundations of colonizing the region. He also played an important role in Muslim history by entrenching the schism between Sunni and Shia Muslims. He viewed Shia Muslims as inferior. In 1567, he ordered the exhumation of Mir Murtaza, a prominent Shia who had been buried in Delhi. His argument was that he could not be buried close to a Sunni saint, Amir Khusrau.
League of Nations
It was founded on the 10th of January 1920 following the Paris Peace Conference. It was established by part I of the Versailles Treaty (Archer, 29). It was intended to mediate an end to the World War I for which it was successful. Its main tasks were to settle international conflict and ensure there was world peace. The idea of a League of Nations had its origins in Immanuel Kant’s treatise that envisaged a central global body to ensure there was peace and stability for he reasoned that wars were inevitable.
It had forty two founding members. It played a huge role in shaping the world’s history in the twenty first century by ending WWI. However, it created the foundations of WWII by mandating Germany to pay exorbitant war reparations to the Allied nations (Christian, 45). Its weakness in preventing WWII was as a result of a lack of its own military as well the absence of the U.S, a major global power at the time, as one of its members. It eventually led to the formation of the United Nations (UN) after WWII in 1945.
International Meridian Conference
The conference took place in October 1884 in Washington. It was attended by forty-one delegates from twenty-five nations. It was aimed at developing a common location from which to measure the meridian longitude. It required the rationalizing of not only the geographical location of the central longitude but also a common measure of time. It was necessitated by the confusion brought about by the differences in the nautical day and the civil day. The conference passed resolutions that had been discussed during the International Geodetic Association in Rome in 1883. It had proposed the universal adaption of the Greenwich meridian as the common longitude with which to measure time.
It harmonized the measuring of time in the twentieth century and also enhanced maritime trade and co-operation (Howse, 67).
Olympe De Gouge
Born in 1748 as Marie Gouze, she later changed her name to Olympe De Gouge. The French national become among the premier persons in the eighteenth century to call for the establishment of women’s rights. Despite gender equality being her main agenda, she also wrote about other political issues such as slavery which she was fervently against. She was hanged in 1793 for going contrary to the societal expectations of a woman’s role. It was more so after penning a pamphlet addressed to Queen Marie Antoinette in which she called for the declaration of women’s rights (Mousset, 44).
She became an inspiration to the feminist movement that later emerged across Europe and America. Some popular feminist leaders such as Jane Addams (1860-1935) and Beula Abzug (1920-1998); a second wave feminist, have cited Olympe De Gouge as the source of their inspiration to fight for women’s rights.
Nguyen Ai Quoc
Nguyen Ai Quoc was born in 1890 and died in 1969. At the beginning of his political career, he changed his name to Ho Chi Minh. He was a member of Vietnam’s Communist party (Ruane, 34). He was instrumental in Vietnam defeating the French and Japanese who had occupied the nation during WWII. He led the “men in black” guerilla movement. After the victory against France and Japan, he convinced Emperor Bao Dai to abdicate, and he subsequently declared Vietnam an independent country.
However, his involvement with France and Communist China led to the division of the country into two. North Vietnam was allied to communism and received its support from China and the Soviet. On the other hand, South Vietnam was allied to capitalist proponents U.S and the U.K (Winter, 11). The division formed the foundation for the cold war as the two warring nations the U.S and the Soviet Union fought proxy wars. The cold war persisted until 1991.
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